NATATORIAL BIRDS 



NATATORES. 



Swan Cygnus. The genus of these large and beautiful birds 

 comprises only seven species ; of these three belong to the Old 

 World, two are resident in North America, one in South America, 

 and one in Australia. The three Old World species also occur in 

 Heligoland. 



311. Mute Swan [HOCKER-SCHWAN], 

 CYGNUS OLOR, Illinger. 1 



Heligolandish : Swoan=>Swa?i. 



Cygnus olor. Naumann, xi. 442. 



Mute Swan. Dresser, vi. 419. 



Cygne tubercule. Temminck, Manuel, ii. 830, iv. 529. 



This bird has only been killed here twice ; the first example, 

 shot many years ago, was a youngish bird whose white plumage 

 had a tinge of grey in it ; the black tubercle at the base of the 

 bill was also but little developed, while the colour of the upper 

 mandible was only pale red. The second example was a very 

 old handsome white bird with red bill and large tubercle; it 

 was shot on the 21st of February 1881 by my son Ludwig, who 

 on the same day killed a very large old Whooper Swan. Both the 

 examples of this tuberculated species were very large, perfectly 

 developed birds, showing no trace of having been kept in 

 captivity at any previous period, and were in the full possession 

 of their flying powers. 



Wild birds of this species breed in isolated instances in Den- 

 mark, Southern Sweden, Germany ; and within the same parallels 

 of latitude throughout Asia. 



1 Cygnus olor (Gme 1 . ). 

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